Cobb County School District: After Swift Start, School Board Reformers Stalled

A year ago at this time, a spirit of revolution was in the air around the Cobb school board.

Three avowed “reform” candidates — Scott Sweeney, Kathleen Angelucci and Tim Stultz — had just been elected, and together with incumbent member Alison Bartlett, the four promised to undo a laundry list of bad ideas they believed the previous majority had installed, or at least continued.

Their to-do list targeted the balanced calendar; the expensive liability of employee rollover vacation accrual; the 1-2-3 standards based report cards that required sending home a separate “how to read this report card” manual; and perpetual contracts with Brock and Clay for legal services, among other issues.

The board got off to a fast and furious start, taking control of the board from the get-go by electing Bartlett as chair, and then swiftly tossing out the so-called balanced calendar and returning the system to a later school start date. But the vote was highly controversial and brought serious backlash from supporters of the balanced calendar, just as the implementation of the balanced calendar had upset the late-start-day set.